Philip Hamrick’s Space Ark
The Space Ark from Pegasus Hobbies is an easy build but some added details make it look great.
The ship and launch rail were a straightforward assembly. I filled in the seams on the two fuselage pieces to make the hull look smoother. The ship and rocket sled were airbrushed
with Testors steel non-buffing metalizer. The engine exhausts were painted flat black and the support cradle on the sled was painted flat red before the sealer was applied over the metalizer paint, as recommended for these paints. I placed the painted and assembled launch rail upright on a flat surface to cure to assure it would sit level once attached to the base.
The base is where the details were added. The rocks were airbrushed a granite gray with lighter gray highlights and the remaining surface area was painted a dark earth color. I used Woodland Scenics material for the dirt, grass, and foliage. The ground is about an 80-20 mix of dirt and buff colored fine ballast ground finer with a mortal and pestle. I sprayed a small area of the base with Scenic Cement and applied the dirt mix with a child’s medicine spoon progressing all the way around until the entire ground was covered. After this dried, I applied another coat of Scenic Cement as a sealer. When this had dried I followed the same procedure to apply the grass. I kept the glue and dirt mix wiped off the vertical edge of the base as I didn’t want any on this part of the surface. The paint would serve to hide the original color of the plastic. I gave it a full day for the last coat of sealer to dry before I added the foliage. I used Scenic Glue for this. Both products dry clear. Any dirt that got in the holes for the launch rail pylons and the area where the name plate will fit was scraped away with a hobby knife.
The name plate was done by airbrushing the yellow first, fading it, then fading the red in to the solid color at the ends. When dry, the letters were covered with blue painter’s tape. The outlines were cut out leaving only the letters covered. The black background was then sprayed.
Philip E. Hamrick
